ISIS militants seize 4 Iraqi towns in just 2 days

A picture taken on June 21, 2014 in the city of Ramadi, west of the capital Baghdad shows a building that was damaged during the fightings between the Sunni anti-Al-Qaeda militia Sahwa (Awakening) and anti-government militants, including from the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Anbar province (AFP Photo / STR) / AFP

The militants of the Al-Qaeda splinter group ISIS, also known as ISIL, managed to capture three new towns and two border crossings on Sunday, according to eyewitnesses, officials, and security sources.

"Army troops withdrew from Rawah, Anah and Rutba this morning
and ISIS moved quickly to completely control these towns,"
an unnamed military intelligence official told Reuters after the
three had fallen.

The militants captured the three towns in Iraq’s western province
of Anbar, Reuters reported. Later in the day, militants seized
two border crossings – one with Jordan and one with Syria, Iraqi
officials told AP.

Officials stationed at the Syrian border post of al-Waleed bolted
after a group of militants spread out over two cars fired their
guns into the air. An anonymous government official blamed
"terrorists", reported Reuters.

Staff in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office has held a
press conference later Sunday commenting on the confused retreat
of the country’s army.

The Iraqi government’s security spokesman, Lieutenant General
Qassem Atta, said that the withdrawal from the three cities was
“tactical.”

“The military units' withdrawal (from Al-Qaim, Rawa and Ana)
was for the purpose of redeployment,” he said.

One of the captured towns, Rutba, with a population of about
55,000, is situated in a strategic location about 150 kilometers
east of the Jordanian border, with the Amman-Baghdad road and the
Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline passing nearby.

Anonymous sources told AP that the army intends to fight back to
recapture Rutba and threatened to start shelling. This prompted
the town’s residents, among whom there could be up to 20,000
refugees from Fallujah and Ramadi, to negotiate with the invading
militants to leave the city peacefully.

Two other captured cities, Rawah and Anah, stand on the banks of
the Euphrates River. The militants appear likely to head for the
city of Haditha, where an important dam is positioned. The Iraqi
military has reportedly dispatched 2,000 additional troops to
protect this dam, but whether the army will be capable of
fulfilling the task remains to be seen.

The Sunni militants control vast areas not only of Iraq but of
Syria as well. Control over border crossings, such as the city of
Qaim, allows the insurgents to easily transport ammunition and
supplies between the two countries.

In the meantime, thousands of pro-government Shiite militiamen
marched through Baghdad, Kirkuk and other
Iraqi cities in a show of force.

The march demonstrated that the Shiite militia is armed not only
with handguns, but with heavy weaponry as well, such as multiple
rocket launchers, artillery and heavy machine-guns.

The Sunni insurgents, many of whom have been fighting against the
Syrian government of President Bashar Assad for the last three
years, are also very well armed. In the current conditions of
sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, a civil
war in the country could be particularly bloody and ruthless.